Study: Students better off saying 'no' to pot jobs

College students looking to make a little green are better off with traditional employment versus marijuana-related jobs, according to a study released this week by the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research.

The study also found the vast majority of Humboldt State University students — 80 percent — are already choosing that path, based on the responses of nearly 600 upperclassmen who participated in the 31-question, anonymous survey sent out to 2,350 randomly selected students in September.

The survey asked close-ended questions about student debt, their income sources, marijuana growing and work, housing, employment status, academic standing and demographics, including whether they grew up in the area.

Seventeen percent of respondents reported having a marijuana-related job in the last 12 months, with 69 percent of them working as trimmers.

Of the 22 students who reported unsuccessfully looking for marijuana-related work at some point, 19 percent said they were unable to find the job in the last 12 months — a lower success rate than their peers who sought out more traditional work opportunities.

"Of those looking for non-marijuana-related jobs, 11 percent couldn't find one," said HSU economics professor Erick Eschker, co-author of the study. "I didn't think there would be a difference in terms of being able to find jobs in the two fields, but one possible explanation is that to find a marijuana-related job, you have to know people."

The survey also asked how much money the respondents made in their jobs in the past year. Students reported making an average of $7,407 in non-marijuana jobs and $5,112 in marijuana jobs. However, Eschker said the comparison of how much money students make in the marijuana industry as opposed to jobs that don't involve cannabis can be tricky, since jobs in the marijuana industry usually aren't paid by the hour.

"People who work in the marijuana industry are usually paid for specific tasks," Eschker said. "Trimmers could get paid $200 for every pound they trim, or transporters could get paid after a delivery is made."

The study found 80 percent of the surveyed students who work in the marijuana industry also have a non-marijuana-related job.

Eschker said the big question is whether the study's findings are representative of the county as a whole, since the respondents were only from the university.

"There are lots of reports about students and marijuana use, but this is the first one I've seen that looks at them working in the actual industry," Eschker said. "The information is self-reported, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. We couldn't observe the students' behavior and don't know if they exaggerated or felt inclined to not participate for fear of being identified."

Of the responding students, 6.5 percent reported growing marijuana over the last 12 months, with 1 out of 5 saying they grew more than 100 plants. One-fourth reported growing commercially, while the rest said they grew for personal use. The average reported earnings from the commercial grows was $27,400 a year. A little over 5 percent of the students reported living in off-campus housing with a marijuana grow.

Co-author of the study Josh Meisel said it's well-known that a large proportion of local economic activity is rooted in the cannabis industry.

"This research is important because it identifies the extent to which students rely upon employment in the sector to subsidize their education," Meisel said.